JK Rowling slams Olympic committee over controversial women's boxing match: This isn’t sport
Angela Carini and Imane Khelif post their match and file image of JK Rowling Photograph:( X )
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Author JK Rowling has come down heavily on the Paris Olympic Games after a women's boxing bout at the games sparked controversy.
Author JK Rowling has come down heavily on the Paris Olympic Games after a women's boxing bout at the games sparked controversy.
Author JK Rowling has come down heavily on the Paris Olympic Games after a women's boxing bout sparked controversy. The Harry Potter creator slammed the organisers for allowing a match between Italy's Angela Carini and Algeria's Imane Khelif. Carini quit her match in just 46 seconds.
Khelif was one of two athletes cleared to compete in women’s boxing after being disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi for failing to meet the necessary gender eligibility criteria.
Carini opted to stand down rather than risk further onslaught inside the ring, and Khelif was- as a result, proclaimed the winner. Carini shouted “This is unjust” as she slammed her headgear as the fight was called off.
The moment Khelif was proclaimed the winner, it went viral on social media, and many spoke against the injustice towards Carini, including Rowling.
Rowling took to X and wrote, "Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment, enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered."
Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/Q5SbKiksXQ
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024
Rowling posted in support of Carini and called out the Paris Olympics.
"Watch this (whole thread), then explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn’t sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women."
Watch this (whole thread), then explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn’t sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women. https://t.co/u32FcDTy9p
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024
There were also others who spoke in support of Carini, including X CEO Elon Musk, who endorsed a post from Riley Gaines. The American swimmer wrote that “men don’t belong in women’s sports,” with the Twitter/X boss replying: “Absolutely.”
On Wednesday, the IOC defended its decision to allow Khelif to compete. "Obviously, I am not going to comment on individuals,” said spokesperson Mark Adams. “That’s really invidious and unfair. But I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case.”
He added that “this is not a transgender issue” and that the women involved had been competing in women’s competitions for “many years.”
